Greenwich resident Peter Brant has taken another of his paper companies into bankruptcy, filing for Chapter 11 protection after being unable to restructure loans from General Electric Co.

Brant, a billionaire collector and patron of the arts, owns SP Newsprint Holdings LLC, which filed for protection Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. SP Newsprint's family of companies includes recycling centers in nine states and two major paper producing mills. The company said it owes between $100 million and $500 million, with assets in the same range.

In 2010, Brant's other major paper company, White Birch Paper Co. of Canada, filed for bankruptcy. The Canadian portion of the company was sold in a court-supervised deal, while the U.S. assets remain in bankruptcy.

Brant's fortune came from the paper business he inherited and expanded, though he has made a name for himself as an art collector and benefactor -- and as a highly regarded polo player. He opened the Brant Foundation Art Study Centre in 2009, which displays a portion of his Andy Warhol collection. He is a founder of the Greenwich Polo Club and his White Birch team is among the world's best.

In the SP Newsprint filing, the company cited higher materials costs and a tough economy as key reasons for the filing. But the company was also unable to pay its debts to GE Capital Corp.

In 2008, as part of a merger deal orchestrates by Brant's company, SP Newsprint Merger LLC tapped GE Capital for $275 million in the form of a revolving credit line and term loan, according to court documents. Both loans mature on March 31, 2012, but the company, which has been in default since June, told the court it fell out of compliance with the covenants of its credit agreement.

After negotiations, GE Capital agreed to a forbearance, which expired Sept. 12.

"On October 12, 2011, GECC took actions that resulted in the Debtors' bank accounts being frozen and permitted only limited funding thereafter," the filing stated.

SP Newsprint has been trying to negotiate a restructuring agreement with GE Capital ever since. It said in the filing that GE appears amenable to a sale of assets and might be a potential buyer serving as a stalking horse.

The company has been trying to cut costs.

Union workers at SP Newsprint's plant in Oregon agreed to take a 15 percent pay cut in 2010. Workers were meeting with management to discuss the bankruptcy on Wednesday and the plant in Newberg was still open.

Hardwick said the reduction was pitched as way to cover the cost of operating a second paper machine at the plant, which in turn would increase revenue for the company.

Hardwick said he couldn't comment on the bankruptcy at this time as he was still getting information on it.

He said the newsprint business has been hit hard by rising materials costs, largely due to overseas competition.

"The cost of old newsprint (the paper) is going up," he said. "China's buying our used newsprint. We're competing for our own newsprint."

In all, SP Newsprint employs 678. Greenwich-based Brant Industries, which is not a debtor in the bankruptcy, acts as SP Newsprint's management company and has deferred its management fee for three months.